


Nothing and Everything

by D7kyoshi



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Rise of Kyoshi, The Shadow of Kyoshi
Genre: Aggressive Caring, Angst, F/F, Fighting, neutral jing, noodle shop, positive jing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:55:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25541689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/D7kyoshi/pseuds/D7kyoshi
Summary: Rangi's perspective of the Coral Urchin Noodle Shop incident, including the repercussions following once Kyoshi confronts her about what happened.
Relationships: Kyoshi & Rangi, Kyoshi/Rangi (Avatar)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 209





	Nothing and Everything

Rangi watched as Atuat left the bedroom and stood at the end of Hei-Ran’s bed as she stared at the door, awaiting the target of her anger. She heard footsteps slowly making their way up the stairs before Kyoshi appeared in the doorway, ducking to fit through the frame. The Avatar took a moment to take in the scene before her. Her eyes finally fell on Rangi and the Firebender immediately took it as her moment to begin speaking.

“You used my mother as bait,” she hissed.

Kyoshi’s face melted and her shoulders slumped as she responded weakly. “I didn’t agree to the plan.”

That wasn’t a good enough answer. “Right. You just went along. Neutral jing, huh? You kept quiet and you didn’t tell me she meant to sacrifice herself. Would you have mentioned it over her corpse? Would you have told me then?”

“Rangi, please! I’m sorry!” She could tell that tears were welling up in the corners of Kyoshi’s eyes. Typically, she could stare at those green eyes all day. Typically, she would console the girl in front of her, but Rangi could not push past the grief and anger that sweltered inside of her. She couldn’t even stand to look at Kyoshi, let alone keep talking to her.

“Don’t apologize to me,” Rangi said. “There’s no need. Because from this point on, I am nothing to you. Do you hear me, Avatar Kyoshi? Nothing.” She brushed past Kyoshi and ran down the stairs. She stopped at the base of them with her hands on her hips and looked at the three faces looking back at her. “What are you looking at?” 

Atuat, Nyahitha, and Jinpa all shrugged and looked down at the table they sat around. “If any of you have something to say, you best say it now, because if later I get told one more thing-”

“Kyoshi hasn’t eaten since yesterday afternoon.” Jinpa spoke up while maintaining eye contact with the table.

Rangi was on the verge of completely losing it now. If she knew that destroying the building wouldn’t have her stripped of her ranking, she would have sent fire blazing through the walls. She simply squeezed the bridge of her nose with her forefinger and thumb and silently walked to the kitchen. Rangi stood in front of a section of countertop and placed her hands on the edge. Her eyes closed tightly as she gripped at the stone surface until her knuckles turned white.

Sometimes she thought about how much quieter things were when Yun was thought to be the Avatar. Kelsang was still alive then and her mother was in perfect health. Everything had been going perfectly according to the strategic plan until Kyoshi became the Avatar. 

Rangi suddenly realized the words that were racing through her mind. She was blaming Kyoshi for everything that had gone wrong. It wasn’t fair of her to put the blame completely on the Avatar, but the one person she put all of her faith and love in had let her down. Why did their lives suddenly become a burden for constantly losing loved ones?

It was something she would have to acknowledge later. She had to make food. Her hands grabbed the nearest metal pot and slammed it onto the burner of the stove. Fuel, fuel, fuel… of course there was no fuel. Rangi looked down at the empty pot and growled in anger from forgetting water.

Once she found water, she placed two fingers to the front edge of the burner and sent a constant little stream of fire underneath the grate. She sniffled and wiped away any growing tears in her eyes with her free hand. Rangi’s eyes darted to the side when she noticed Jinpa had walked into the doorway.

He was sheepish, partially hiding behind the plain moulding. “Do you need any h-“

“Get out.” Loose strands of hair fell to the sides of her face as she looked down to hide her swirling emotions. Her eyes glared at the steaming liquid.

Jinpa didn’t leave. Instead, he quietly spoke to her. “You know, I had never seen Kyoshi as distressed as she was when she brought Hei-Ran here. She may have let the plan happen, but she gave it up in order to save your mother instead.

“Rangi, she was covered in your mother’s blood from keeping the wound sealed off. Kyoshi saved your mother’s life. I think you should give her a least a little bit of leeway.” Jinpa had slowly taken a few steps closer to the Firebender.

“I said get out.” Rangi heard what the monk had to say but now wasn’t a time where she could handle the pleasantries of forgiveness. “Get out! NOW!” The fire coming from her fingers shot out like a jet stream and immediately caused the water the boil. She threw the dried noodles she had found into the bubbling liquid while looking Jinpa in the eyes. 

His face went white in fear as he quickly scrambled out of the kitchen. The noodles softened in record time considering the amount of heat she was now giving the water. She strained them into a bowl and didn’t bother with any seasoning. Kyoshi didn’t deserve seasoning right now. Rangi flung the hot water filled pot into the deep sink, the impact sending the water splashing everywhere.

She grabbed a set of chopsticks from the cutlery holder and stormed out of the kitchen with the raged-infused noodles in hand. Rangi stomped up the stairs and entered the room. Kyoshi was getting ready to leave but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her. Just seeing the girl made the anger inside rise again and she pushed the steaming hot bowl into her hands.

“You haven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon!” she screamed. She hurled the chopsticks on the floor and left as abruptly as she’d entered. Rangi turned the corner instead of going downstairs again and headed for the empty room she had picked to stay in for the night. As she walked in, she slammed the door shut and looked at Kyoshi’s duffel bag against the wall. The girl leaned against the same wall and sank down to the floor. 

Tears flowed from her eyes as she buried her face in her arms. She choked on air as she tried to make sense of what was happening. Her emotions were in a frenzy and she could hardly figure out where to start first so she closed her eyes and spent a few minutes trying to just stop thinking. 

The door opened. Rangi didn’t bother to look up, she knew who it was. “Leave me alone.”

“Rangi, please.”

“Find somewhere else to sleep, Avatar Kyoshi.” She looked up to see Kyoshi closing the door and sitting down next to her. Part of her was glad that the girl had ignored her request and stayed instead. They sat next to each other, the only noise filling the temporary silence was both of them sniffling from their tears.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t know if I could ever handle you leaving me.” She could feel Kyoshi’s stare burning into her.

“I’m not going to leave you. I’ll never give up that easily on us, plus I’m honor-bound to the Avatar.” Rangi stared at the wall across the room before looking at the girl next to her.

Kyoshi’s eyes quickly looked away, “Do I actually need to find somewhere else to sleep?” She brushed tears away and bit her lip to hold in her emotions. There had been a few times where Rangi had seen this same expression and it was typically followed by Kyoshi completely losing herself in a pile of tears.

“No, but I am extremely angry with you and I need you to understand that I am going to need some time to process everything that has happened. You wouldn’t understand the pain of nearly losing your mother twice.” As soon as the words fell from her mouth, she knew that she would grow to regret them.

Kyoshi closed her eyes and quietly scoffed, “You’re right. I have no idea what it is like to lose my parents.”  
“That’s not what I meant. I actually love my parents.” Why had she kept talking?

“Is there anything else you would like to say? Maybe how I don’t know what it is like to be bullied or what it is like having no one around to comfort you or how about suddenly having unavoidable responsibilities that you didn’t ask for shoved onto you? You think I don’t relate to anything that you have experienced when you know that’s not true. Have you ever thought about maybe you don’t understand what I have been through?” Kyoshi now stood up and looked down at Rangi, causing her to shrink into the floor a little.

“Did you live on the streets as a child? No, you always had a home and a roof. Have you ever had to search through garbage for food? No, you have always had food provided for you. Have you ever been abandoned in the middle of a town that immediately discards you? No! You have always had people that wanted you around, Rangi.”

She looked straight ahead at the wall across the room again as Kyoshi continued to yell at her. For only the second time ever, Rangi felt intimidated and scared of the girl next to her.

“You are just so arrogant sometimes! At least you have a mother to lose! At least you have family to fight for. I have nothing and you have everything and yet you make yourself out to be a martyr because of your stupid honor and pride. I’m beginning to think that if your Nation didn’t base everything they did on honor, then maybe none of this would be happening.

“It’s time for dinner, let’s make sure we eat with honor. It’s time to get dressed, let’s do it with honor. It’s time to go for a walk, but it’s going to be the most honorable walk to date. Why are you all so stubborn and rigid on sticking to these principles?”

Rangi glanced up to see the angriest face she had ever seen Kyoshi give her. Her eyes were no longer a place of warmth and solitude. Her lips were no longer soft. She was the vessel of rage and spite that Rangi had always feared coming to fruition. “Kyoshi, please stop.”

“What? You finally want me to use neutral jing? You spend so much time dragging the principle down that I figured I should use your more superior method of positive jing. Here, let me act a little more like you.” Kyoshi stormed over to a small chair that sat in the corner and picked it up with one hand. Effortlessly, she flung it through the air and it careened across the room, shattering to several pieces as it hit the corner of the room. Rangi’s eyes went wide in shock as she ducked away from the impact. 

Kyoshi stood there, breathing heavily before collapsing to her knees before breaking down into deep sobs. Rangi quickly scrambled across the room and pulled Kyoshi into a tight hug. “Kyoshi, I-” She was speechless about what she had just witnessed. The last time she saw Kyoshi get this angry was when she had confronted Xu Ping An. That was also the first time she had seen what kind of destruction the Avatar State was capable of producing.

Through the sobs, Kyoshi produced a few words, “I never asked for any of this, and everyone wants something different from me, and I feel the whole weight of the world on me.”

Rangi gripped her closer and began crying as well. Kyoshi’s arms gently wrapped around her, giving Rangi a small amount of relief. Her anger and spite caused this and she now regretted all of the words she had said earlier. “I’m sorry. You have me, I promise. You will always have me. And I swear I’ll be more careful. Please don’t become an empty vessel. The world needs your neutral jing, Kyoshi.”

Kyoshi gripped at the fabrics of Rangi’s robe and pulled her closer. The sobbing continued for a few minutes before Kyoshi finally began to settle down. Rangi’s tight hold on her never wavered, despite her arm muscles beginning to cramp. She carefully began to plant soft kisses on Kyoshi’s forehead. “I will always be with you. I promise.” Rangi couldn’t help but to reassure the girl repeatedly. She had become so focused on the issues within the Fire Nation and about her mother that she hadn’t realized how much Kyoshi had been hurting. It was her job to protect her, but all she had done was make matters worse. It broke her heart to see Kyoshi suffering, especially when she had dealt some of the damage.


End file.
